1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to embedded devices and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing higher resolution images in an embedded device using a super resolution technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user of a camera device may “take a picture” of an object by generating a digital image of the object in particular image resolution. Generally, a digital image includes pixel data that represents the object and image resolution refers to an amount of detail for the digital image. Occasionally, the digital image generated by the camera device may be distorted. For example, handshaking (e.g., camera jitter) may cause distortions (e.g., blurring) in the digital image.
Sometimes, a super resolution technique may be used to mitigate the effects of handshaking. The super resolution technique is configured to produce a higher resolution image from one or more lower resolution images. The super resolution technique predicts the missing details (e.g., pixel data) from the lower resolution images using motion estimation and deblurring techniques. The missing details are applied to the one or more lower resolution images to produce the higher resolution image.
Currently, the super resolution techniques are not performed on an embedded device due to processor and memory limitations. An embedded device may be a device with a built-in camera, such as a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a “smart phone” and the like. Due to size restrictions, the embedded device is limited to a particular amount of memory devices and/or processor resources. The raw and uncompressed images are considerably large in size and consume a significant amount of the memory. As a result, there are too many images for the processor to perform the super resolution technique while the embedded device is being used.
Currently, the super resolution techniques are performed offline on the embedded device prior to synchronization in which the lower resolution images may be saved into a device memory. Processing is done offline prior to transferring lower resolution images from the embedded device to another device (e.g., a computer). The user, however, is not able to view a high resolution image on a lower resolution screen.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for providing higher resolution images in an embedded device.